"Midnight Madness" Have You Gone/Will You Go?

[Brian]

With another inevitable round of "midnight madness" for the release of the ROTS toys, I was wondering how many of you have gone to these events in the past, or plan to next year?  I didn't go for Phantom Menace, and really just got into collecting around that time again.  I was working at a department store during college, so was able to pick up the figs I wanted at that time, when we stocked them.  I don't remember the date even, but it was likely well after the big name stores had them.  For AOTC, we still lived in a small town, so I drove to the nearest Wal-Mart (35 miles away) shortly before midnight, and got there as they put them on the pegs.  That was the most other collectors I had seen in an aisle at the same time as me, with probably about ten of us there.  I was able to pick up about all the initial waves, with the exception of Dooku and Royal Guard.  I just wanted to see what I could get, and mainly wanted to come away with a Yoda and the main characters, and was able to do that.  It was an interesting experience, and still by far the most Star Wars figures I have ever bought at once.

I've been trying to decide what to do about ROTS.  We now live in a city, with more shopping options that we used to have (2 Wal-Marts, 2 Targets, TRU, KB), and all within 10 minutes or so of home.  But, I'm sure there are a lot more collectors here as well, and I don't know if I feel like "battling" them at midnight madness to get the figures.  We don't eve know which characters will be out that day, and how they will look/will be, but I'm sure there will be enough good to be tempted by that line pretty quickly.  Especially if there is a Chewie/Wookiees in the initial assortment(s).  Anyways, I was wondering if any of you have gone in the past, and if you plan to go next year, or just wait until the next day (or later).  I'm kind of thinking about just going the next morning and trying my luck around town.  We'll see, awhile to think about it yet .

[SilverZ]

I guess the midnight madness thing has become part of the new movie tradition, so I'll go, again. I can't say either previous event was worth it figure-wise. Good luck getting anything you plan to keep mint and carded. Also, anything that seems to go on the shelf that night tends to be easily and painlessly found the next morning, without all the running, shouting, rushing, and crowding.

I was in Denver for Celebration 1 and did MM at a TRU in Littleton. Ended up with a bleeding thumb because some dude crashed his cart into mine as I was pulling it. Didn't find everything on my checklist until the following morning.

Back in SoCal for the AOTC MM at TRU was a mess of people screaming and shouting as annoyed employees dumped random cases of figures into wire bins. Went to another TRU an hour later, just before they were closing, to find them resetting their display for the morning and fully stocked with everything, and shopped casually to fill the checklist.

So keep in mind, it's for the experience (good or bad).

Just my take on the whole thing. 

[Mister Skeezler]

I've had good times both times I went (TPM & AOTC), so I figure why not?

Last time I was able to grab all the figures I wanted with no problem. But you're right Jared, it really isn't a good idea for carded collectors. Its definitely a loose collector's dream though.

[Ranat]

I haven't made midnight madness for the previous two movie years, and I think I am going to skip it again this time around. I really don't want to deal with the crowd fighting over action figures. Plus, I'd be real embarassed when all the employee's are just standing there gazing at us. I'll probably just go early the next morning, that way I don't have to deal with tons of people, and I can take my time getting what I want. I did that the last two times, and everything was great. Might as well keep with it.

[jokabofe]

I've gone to both of the MM nights so far, so why not. It is definitely not that great for the carded collectors, although for the Episode 2 MM the employees were taking cases out of the back and just handing them to us, so we could go through them and see if we needed any of the figures. Then we grabbed a bunch of empty boxes and put all of our figures in there. The best part, tho, was the ride home. I have a pretty small car (Nissan 240SX) and we had about 8 - 10 cases of figures stuffed in the the back seat, since my little hatch area houses 2 12" subwoofers. 

[evenflow]

I have gone to both and will be going to this one as well. I can't wait. It's usually alot of fun.

[Darby]

Yep, it's gonna be three for three.     Won't buy as much as last time, but the best part is just hanging out with SW folk.

[Ben]

I hope so. I was at work for the last one, but I did go to the TPM one.

I doubt TRU will be on the bandwagon this time because they weren't last time, but there's always Wal-Mart. 

[starwax137]

Hey you're all gonna think I've lost it, but....

Can someone please explain to me the details of just exactly what 'Midnight Madness' is?

thx!

[Ben]

Some stores that stock Star Wars open at midnight on the merchandise's street date to capitalize on the collectors foaming at the mouth to get new Star Wars stuff.

It's a good time, depending on the crowd.

[CHEWIE]

All the collectors running around like a herd of wild animals... what's not to love about that!   

For EPI , I was in college and went to TRU - I only had about $75 to spend and I was broke...

For EP2 - I went to two different Walmarts - much better experience!

So, for EP3 - I'm going to two different Walmarts that night, and a TRU in the morning.

 

[Darthshader]

It is more a social event now for me. It is great to run into people I've not seen in a while, while chasing SW toys.

I'll be there!

[Jeff]

For Episode 1, I was driving home from Denver after C1 so I had to settle for a lunch time stop at Target in Nebraska...

For Episode 2, I skipped the TRU Midnight Madness, but did end up hitting Wal-Mart at 12:30am because I couldn't sleep knowing there were Ep2 toys out there.  Quick trip to 24hr Wally fixed that.  Grabbed the rest of what I needed at Target the next day.

This year, I'll probably just hit Target on April 2nd because I hear that they are really cooking up something cool for those that buy their stuff there on April 2nd... 

Jeff

[Brian]

For Episode I, I didn't really do anything, although I did work for a store in our college town (Pamida, subsidiary of Shopko if you have ever heard of either), and we had the Episode I figures.  One other guy and myself got to set up the display that night after closing, and were allowed to set aside anything that we wanted.  That was really my first step of getting back into Star Wars collecting, and I think I bought 6 figures at the time {poor college student budget }.

For Episode II, a friend and I drove to the nearest Wal-Mart (which at the time was about 40 minutes away), and got there about 11:45-ish.  There was a handful of other collectors there, and they had the aisle closed off while they stocked the pegs, and then let us in at midnight.  That was by far the most I ever spent on one collecting trip, picking up most of what was offered, except not finding the Dooku, Royal Guard, and passing on figures like Typho and the Battle Droid for the time being (got them later on).

This time, I was planning on bopping down to Wal-Mart around midnight, since it is only about five minutes away now since we moved to a much larger town .  Although, if Jeff is correct, I might wait until the next day and hit Target up.  I enjoy shopping there so much more anyways.  We'll see if I can resist, and how many people there are to "fight" in the aisle.  I don't really enjoy that, the people at Episode II MM weren't overly polite, at least some of them...but hopefully this time will be different/better.  I am looking forward to it though, plus, being up late on a Friday night/Saturday morning isn't nearly as bad as a Monday .

[Morgbug]

Didn't anything get leaked early for youse guys?  I think I had most everything 3-4 days before hand and I thought that was a fairly widespread occurrence.  Hmmm. 

No midnight madness here anyway.  I think TRU did it for Ep I, but I didn't care.  I went to an out of town Walmart the following day and found everything I wanted.  Even bought into the Ric Olie is shortpacked hype (though I only bought one)

My plan is to still stick to minimal purchase in advance.  I'll pick up stuff later on that clearances down the road.  Clones and Vader will be pretty easy to buy, but otherwise I'll try my darnedest to pass on them (and likely fail miserably). 

Not much shoving up here, I think the glut of toys has shown that there's no big danger of missing anything and the retailers do nothing special either.  Maybe I'll have to make the drive to Grand Forks for the Target opening.  That might be fun.  Depend on the weather though.